Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.17

[Govindam prayers playing] [Prabhupāda sings along]

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: [sings Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava] [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrī Guru and Gauranga. [devotees offer obeisances]

Prabhupāda: Hmm. [indistinct] [hums]

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṅi vidhunoti suhṛt satām [SB 1.2.17]

[Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.]

Prabhupāda: Next. Ladies. Ladies. [corrects some pronunciation] Alright. That's all right. Now, word meaning.

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms]

śṛṅvatām—those who have developed the urge to hearing the message of; sva-kathāḥ—His own words; kṛṣṅaḥ—the Personality of Godhead; puṅya—virtues; śravaṅa—hearing; kīrtanaḥ—chanting; hṛdi antaḥ sthaḥ—within one's heart; hi—certainly; abhadrāṅi—desire to enjoy matter; vidhunoti—cleanses; suhṛt—benefactor; satām—of the truthful.

[14:51]

Translation: "Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the Personality of Godhead, who is also the Paramātmā in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, does cleanse the desire for material enjoyment in the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge for hearing His [Kṛṣṅa's] messages, which are themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted."

Prabhupāda: Hmm. So Kṛṣṅa is very selfish. He says... Here it is said, sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ: anyone who is engaged in hearing Kṛṣṅa's kathā. Kathā means words, messages. So, in the Bhagavad-gītā also, Kṛṣṅa says, mām ekam: "Only unto Me." Ekam. This is required. Although everything is Kṛṣṅa, but according to the pantheist theory we cannot worship everything.

Everything is Kṛṣṅa, that's a fact, but that does not mean we have to worship everything. We have to worship Kṛṣṅa. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they say, "If everything is Kṛṣṅa, so whatever I worship, I am worshiping Kṛṣṅa." No. That is wrong.

Just like the same example can be given that in the body—I am this body—everything "I," or "mine." But when foodstuff is to be taken, it is not to be pushed through the rectum, but through the mouth. That is the only one. You cannot say, "The body has got nine holes: two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, one rectum, one genital—nine holes. So why not push the food in any hole?"

That is Māyāvādī theory. "After all," they say, "the foodstuff has to be given to the body, inside the body. So I can push the foodstuff through any hole. There are so many holes." Sometimes in medical science, when it is impossible to push food through the mouth, they push through the rectum. That is artificial. But emergency, they do sometimes. But that is not the way. The real way is that food is required to be given to the body, but it must be given through the mouth, not through any other hole.

Similarly, if we actually want our contact with the Absolute Truth, then we have to go through Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa has many forms. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam [Bs 5.33].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]

Ananta-rūpam. So... Because nothing is but Kṛṣṅa, everything is Kṛṣṅa's energy, so the process is... To contact the Absolute Truth means Kṛṣṅa.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa here says... Not Kṛṣṅa; Vyāsadeva says, through Sūta Gosvāmī, that "Kṛṣṅa is very kind, very friendly to the suhṛt satām." Satām. Satām means devotees. He is very intimately in friendship with devotees. Kṛṣṅa's another qualification is bhakta-vatsala. Here it is also said, suhṛt-satām. Satām means devotees.

He is friend of everyone. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām [Bg 5.29].

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

Without Kṛṣṅa being friend of everyone, nobody can live for a moment. You are... Kṛṣṅa is protecting everyone, supplying food to everyone.

nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]

[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]

Eka, that one person, supreme personality... There are... We are all personalities. All living entities, we are all personalities. We are not a homogeneous lump. Everyone has got individual, individuality. So every one of is a individual personality. Everyone.

So Kṛṣṅa is the supreme personality. That is the difference. He is also an individual. The only difference is that He is supreme; we are all subordinate. We are dependent on Kṛṣṅa. If Kṛṣṅa does not manage things nicely, then we are doomed. Just like we were walking on the sea beach. Such a vast ocean. We are confident that "The sea waves cannot come beyond this line." We are confident.

Therefore we are walking. But actually, the vast ocean, within a second, it can succumb so many cities. But by whose order it is keeping the honor, "No, not beyond this. You may be very great, that's all right, but not beyond this line, demarcated"? This is Kṛṣṅa's order.

The sun is so big, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, and so powerful, blazing fire. You know, those who are scientific men, they know, the sun has got his orbit, and little deviation from the orbit can turn the whole world into snow, and turn the whole world into blazing fire. Where is our scientist friend? Is it not a fact?

[Svarūpa Dāmodara makes indistinct reply]

Yes. It is running under certain orbit exactly, because a little deviation from the orbit will create havoc, catastrophe, immediately, either fire or snow. So under whose order the sun is so strictly following the demarcation? Such a big body. Our, in our practical experience, if he has got heavy body, he moves like this; he's not steady. But such a huge body is exactly... According to astronomical calculation, they calculate, some one ten-thousandth part of a second, in this way.

So we have to study this, under whose order... They say there is no God, but how these things, the natural functions, are being performed strictly, without any deviation? That is replied in the Brahmā-saṁhitā:

yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.52]

[The sun who is the king of all the planets, full of infinite effulgence, the image of the good soul, is as the eye of this world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in pursuance of whose order the sun performs his journey mounting the wheel of time.]

The sun is the eye for all planets. We are very much proud of our eyes: "Can you show me?" What, nonsense, what can you see? Eh? You cannot see anything without sun. You are so much proud of your eyes? You cannot see. Why do you say, "Can you show me?" First of all be qualified to see. Then you can see. But the rascals say, "Can you show me God?" They cannot see even ordinary things if there is no sunshine, and they want to see God. Just see. How much lunatic, crazy. You can see God, but you have to qualify the eyes. Then you can see.

So the sun is our eyes, actually. Not only this planet; all the planets within this universe. Therefore it is said in the Brahmā..., yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅām. The gāyatrī-mantri, gāyatrī-mantra, oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, that is worshiping the sun, sun-god, savitā, savitṛ. So, yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅām. Rājā samasta-grahāṅām. Just like there is king, president, similarly, the sun planet is the king of all planets.

[aside:] Those who are standing, they can stand near the wall; don't block.

Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtiḥ. All the demigods, they are worshiping, this gāyatrī-mantra.

Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Unlimited temperature. Unlimited temperature. For millions and millions of years it is diffusing temperature, and if it is little more, we become, ninety millions away, ninety millions of miles away, still, little rising of temperature, we become suffocated. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ, unlimited temperature.

And moving, yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṅāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ, yasyājñayā, "by whose order," bhramati, "is moving," sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ, "the orbit." Sun has got orbit, sixteen thousand miles per second moving. But moving how? Not a little deviation. Exactly in the line. Because little deviation will cause havoc. Just the same way: a little pounching[?] over, the whole sea, finished Los Angeles. You see?

So this is the order of Kṛṣṅa. That is admitted, all Vedas. Yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ, yasyājñayā..., govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. So Kṛṣṅa is such powerful. We should know what is Kṛṣṅa. And these rascals, they are becoming incarnation of Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa personally present. Where is your power like this? If somebody kicks on your face with boot, you cannot do anything, and you are becoming God. You see?

So Kṛṣṅa is so powerful, at the same time so kind. Just see His kindness. Simply you hear His words, sva-kathā, kṛṣṅa-kathā. He is speaking in the Bhagavad-gītā. You hear. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65]:

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

"You just become My devotee," Kṛṣṅa says. Man-manāḥ, "Always think of Me." Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, "Just become My devotee." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī, "You worship Me." Māṁ namaskuru, "Just offer your obeisances unto Me."

We cannot do that? Is that very difficult thing? If we hear patiently, with a little attention, and hear Kṛṣṅa's words, what Kṛṣṅa is saying in the Bhagavad-gītā or what is spoken about Kṛṣṅa in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, simply if we hear. We don't require any qualification, any education, any Ph.D., M.S.T, this, that. No. Simply Kṛṣṅa has given you the ears, so you can hear. What is the difficulty? Kṛṣṅa is so kind. If you simply become a little inclined to hear about Him...

If you hear and do not understand what Kṛṣṅa is speaking and what is spoken about Kṛṣṅa, you do not understand—Suppose you have no education, you do not understand Sanskrit or even English translation—still, simply by hearing, śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [SB 1.2.17],

by simply hearing, puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ. Puṅya means pious. We are all sinful. Life after life, we have committed sins, and this body is the evidence that we are sinful, this material body. It may be degrees different, but anyone who has got a material body, he is sinful.

So every one of us is sinful, but simply by hearing... Hearing, this hearing is possible in this human form of life. But even cats and dogs, if they hear, even the trees and ants and insects, they hear, they will also gain the benefit, this transcendental vibration. We human beings, we hear about Kṛṣṅa, we can understand about something that "Kṛṣṅa is saying like this," but the small child, or an animal, or even trees, insects, if they hear this Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, they'll be benefited. They will be benefited. This is the fact. Because the vibration...

Just like when there is thunderbolt vibration, that vibration has got effect on everything. That is scientific. Everything. Similarly, this vibration of Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra is so strong that it will benefit anyone who hears. Therefore we are sending saṅkīrtana party. They may understand or not understand, they may appreciate or not appreciate, we are forcing them to become pious simply by hearing this Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra. It is so nice.

Śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ [SB 1.2.17]. The whole world is full of sinful life. So we are creating the atmosphere, puṅya-śravaṅa. Chanting and hearing. Simply by these two processes. Puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ. Puṅya, pious. So anyone who is coming here, even he does not understand a single word which we are speaking, if he simply hears, he becomes pious. Simply by hearing. Even a child, he becomes pious. And unless we are free from our sinful life, we cannot understand about God.

yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṅya-karmaṅām te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ [Bg 7.28]

[Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated and who are freed from the duality of delusion, engage themselves in My service with determination.]

This is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.

So those who are sinful, they cannot understand what is God. Therefore the whole world is godless. They are so sinful, their life, their civilization, has been made so much sinful, the four principle of sinful: illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling. The whole world is full of these four business.

Therefore they are all sinful. He may dress like a very nice gentleman, but he's a sinful man. So he cannot understand. Therefore it is very difficult to convince these rascals about God. They say, "I am.., everyone is God," "I am God," "You are God," "God is dead." They are so dull. You see? Therefore our business is to cleanse their heart.

So we vibrate, and Kṛṣṅa helps from within. Kṛṣṅa said, Sūta Gosvāmī said, śṛṅvatām... Those who are giving, who are taking the chance of hearing Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra..., śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [SB 1.2.17]. Kṛṣṅaḥ is nominative case. Śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ. Anything hearing about Kṛṣṅa, that is also pious.

Kṛṣṅa is supposed to be doing something according to our material calculation, killing somebody. Or Kṛṣṅa is dancing with other's wife. According to material calculation, this is not allowed. You cannot dance with other's wife—not in your country, but that is the Vedic civilization. But Kṛṣṅa did it. Although the gopīs came to dance with Him, captivated by His beauty, but they became purified, puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ.

If simply by hearing about Kṛṣṅa one becomes pious, how they become pious simply by dancing with Kṛṣṅa? This is the theory. Not that Kṛṣṅa wanted some young girls to dance with Him. He can create millions of young girls, immediately. But they're devotees. They wanted to dance with Kṛṣṅa, might be captivated by His beauty. But they wanted Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa gave them chance, "All right, come on. Dance with Me. And be purified."

Just try to understand. Just simply by hearing about Kṛṣṅa, one becomes purified, and what to speak of persons who are dancing with Kṛṣṅa. This opportunity is there. You can dance with Kṛṣṅa, you can play with Kṛṣṅa, you can talk with Kṛṣṅa. So our Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is giving this chance to everyone. Everyone, without any discrimination.

So how it is purified? One may say that "Simply by hearing, how one becomes purified?" No. Kṛṣṅa helps. Here it is said: hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṅi vidhunoti suhṛt satām. Kṛṣṅaḥ vidhunoti. Kṛṣṅa helps you. Those who are hearing with attention... Kṛṣṅa is within you, everyone, Paramātmā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg 18.61].

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

Kṛṣṅa is within you. Kṛṣṅa is so kind, Kṛṣṅa is so sympatic, sympathetic, as soon as He sees, "Oh, this soul..."

Because every soul is Kṛṣṅa's son, so He's very much anxious. Just like a father. If a son is in difficulty, the father is more anxious: "How this boy will be rescued from this difficulty?" Similarly, we are suffering in this material world. Kṛṣṅa is more anxious to get us back to home, back to Godhead. Therefore, as soon as He sees, "Oh, he is hearing about Me. Oh, thank you. I shall help you." Immediately He vidhunoti, He washes all the dirty things.

The dirty thing is that "I shall be happy by material enjoyment." This is the basis of dirty things. The rascal does not know that he cannot be happy in any condition, any material condition. Brahmā is unhappy, Indra is unhappy, what to speak of you, you are a teeny creature. Nobody can be happy in this material world. They must be always in anxiety, because they have accepted something which will never make him happy. Therefore we have to counteract it, these dirty things, that we are trying to be happy in this material world.

These dirty things are accumulated within our heart. Life after life, we have selected so many bodies. "Now I shall become tiger. I am eating flesh, but I cannot attack the animal and eat fresh blood." Kṛṣṅa is so kind: "All right, I am giving the chance to become a tiger. You become a tiger. I'll give you all nails and teeth so that you can pounce over immediately. There is no need of opening slaughterhouse; you can directly eat." You see?

So I wanted to enjoy as a tiger, I wanted to enjoy as a cat, as a dog, as a Brahmā—in so many lives, so many planets. But everywhere I have become frustrated. That is the fact. Now, in this human form of life, is the chance to take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness and make your life perfect.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Chant.

[42:26]

[kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong]

Prabhupāda: [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]